Do you have the capability to create a successful online business while working from home? You most certainly do! There are many advantages to working from home; no more punching a time clock, no more supervisors telling you what to do, no dress codes or monthly quotas, and thank God - no more commuting.
Working from home alleviates many of the stresses that present themselves in the typical work environment; however if you take this new found freedom for granted, you could easily find yourself in over your head with a long list of things left undone.
You have to treat what you’re doing as a business where you are both the employer and the employee. As the employer, consider how you would feel if your employees showed up late for work every day. On the other hand, as an employee, how would you feel if your boss had you on-call 24/7, 7 days a week?
There has to be a balance between freedom and structure. As the owner of your own home business, you will have the freedom to do whatever you want to do; nevertheless you must also maintain a structured work environment. Many people believe that operating a home business is really easy, but it’s not. It takes a great deal of planning and sacrifice. You must treat it as a business - not a hobby!
When I was laid-off from my job, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to start working for myself. I knew I couldn’t go about it haphazardly, so I got up every day as if I were going to a 9 to 5. I forced myself to plan a work schedule and stick to it. When my wife would ask me, “What are you going to do today?” I’d tell her, “I’m going to work!”
Working From Home - High Failure Rate
The failure rate is extremely high for anyone who wants to start their own home business. Operating a home business requires ceaseless dedication and an unwavering passion for success. It’s important to have an inner drive to accomplish your goals; otherwise the task at hand will become very difficult and you’ll be tempted to quit. Don’t give up! It’s impossible to succeed if you stop trying.
Time Management
An important key to success is effective time management. Your use of time should be planned well in advance and modified continually in order to adjust to those unforeseen situations that try to stand in your way.
Make a list of all the things you need to take care of in a given day. At this point, don’t worry about how each task is to be ordered; just write them all down (re-visit the entry on Effective Brainstorming if you have to). Then, go back later and decide which item needs to be done first, second, third and so on. After you’ve finished restructuring your to-do-list, you’ll be more likely to remember the tasks you hope to accomplish, because by now you’ve written them twice.
Applying a Time Management Strategy
Any successful business must have a deliberate time management strategy. Below is a list that will help improve your time management focus:
1. The most important step of any time management plan is to schedule all of the tasks you plan to accomplish prior to starting your day. Even though it’s the most important - it’s also the most overlooked. Most people go about their day doing whatever they feel like doing at the time without actually having a plan to follow. If you don’t first identify what you need to accomplish, how are you going to know when it’s done?
2. Once you have organized your list of things-to-do, try to follow it as closely as possible. Try not to get overly stressed. There will always be interruptions and distractions: phones ringing, babies crying, neighbors fighting, etc. Just try to get as much done as you can. Even if you only accomplish a small portion of the tasks on your list, those are things you don’t have to worry about tomorrow.
3. Try to minimize as many distractions as possible. Your surrounding environment has enough distractions of its own. Don’t give it any help! Turn off the phone, television, radio or anything else that will try to compete for your attention. The goal here is maximum efficiency.
4. Organize your list of tasks to accomplish in order from the most important to the least important. Avoid doing the easiest tasks first because they are likely to be the least important. It is much more productive to get your top-priority tasks done first; then you’ll have greater confidence to tackle the lesser items with ease.
5. Reflect on the things that went according to plan and gain strength from them. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. If you learn from the mistakes you’ve made today, then they were not a complete waste of time. Shake it off and make up that ground tomorrow.
Remember to relax and spend some quality time with friends and family, because you’ll have to do this all over again tomorrow.
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